Attracting and retaining people to live, work, raise a family, and retire underlies the economic vitality of any region. Population growth is both a cause--and a consequence--of economic growth. Patterns of population growth and change reflect differences among regions to attract and retain people both as producers and consumers in their economy.

The following graphs offer a broad overview of trends in the pattern of population growth and change of Denver County with comparisons to Colorado and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Denver County vs. Colorado's population growth over 1969-2022. The data used are those compiled by the Regional Income and Product Divisions of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.

Figure 1 tracks Denver County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Denver County's population rose from 511,251 in 1969 to 713,252 in 2022, for a net gain of 202,001, or 39.51%.

NOTE: The county and state population totals reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are from the Bureau of Census midyear (July 1) estimates. These estimates may differ from those prepared independently in some states by various agencies and/or universities.

Figure 2 tracks Colorado's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Colorado's population rose from 2,166,000 in 1969 to 5,839,926 in 2022, for a net gain of 3,673,926, or 169.62%.

NOTE: The county and state population totals reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are from the Bureau of Census midyear (July 1) estimates. These estimates may differ from those prepared independently in some states by various agencies and/or universities.

Figure 3 portrays Denver County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Colorado, the United States. The growth indices shown here express each region's population in 1969 as a base figure of 100, and the populations in later years as a percentage of the 1969 base figure. This method allows for more direct comparison of differences in population growth between regions that may differ vastly in size.

Denver County's overall population growth was 39.51% over 1969-2022 trailed Colorado's increase of 169.62%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of highlighting the population growth of Denver County is to compare its individual percentage contributions to Colorado's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 4. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than Colorado's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1969, Denver County's population totaled 23.60% of Colorado's population, while in 2022 it totaled 12.21% thereby yielding a -11.39% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Denver County's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2022. The average annual percent change for the entire 53-year period is also traced on this chart to provide a benchmark for gauging periods of relative high--and relative low--growth against the backdrop of the long-term average.

On average, Denver County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.64% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1992 (3.54%) and posted its lowest growth in 1975 (-2.73%). In 2022, Denver County's population grew by 0.27%

Over the past five decades some counties have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 6 again traces the annual percent change in Denver County's population since 1970, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 1970s, Denver County's annual population growth rate averaged -0.31%. It averaged -0.46% throughout the 1980s, 1.51% during the 1990s, 0.71% in the 2000s, 1.88% during the 2010s, 0.19% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Denver County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Colorado and the nation. As the chart reveals, Denver County's average annual population growth recorded under Colorado's average in the 1970s (-0.31% vs. 2.78%), lagged Colorado's average throughout the 1980s (-0.46% vs. 1.41%), amounted to less than Colorado's average in the 1990s (1.51% vs. 2.58%), trailed Colorado's average in the 2000s (0.71% vs. 1.64%), led Colorado's average in the 2010s (1.88% vs. 1.44%), and amounted to less than Colorado's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.19% vs. 0.60%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Denver County lagged the nation in the 1970s (-0.31% vs. 1.10%), posted below the nation during the 1980s (-0.46% vs. 0.95%), led the nation over the 1990s (1.51% vs. 1.23%), posted below the nation over the 2000s (0.71% vs. 0.95%), recorded above the nation throughout the 2010s (1.88% vs. 0.74%), and fell below the nation over 2020-2022 (0.19% vs. 0.31%).